I was not at my happy size - even though I was a size 10 (or thereabouts). It took a very large, happy nude lady to forever shift my body image and self-esteem. I thought I only had to thank her for that. Until, having studied psychoimmunology and quantum medicine I realized the REAL gift she'd given me: a healthier biochemistry that would increase my chances of living longer, like to over 100! She’d given me the ultimate health secret.
Believe me - going naked was something I'd never have voluntarily done - but I was conned into going nude. Little did I know, it was to be one of the most powerful experiences of my life. It would fundamentally challenge what I saw about myself. As well as some very ingrained belief systems. Every time you have a paradigm shift of this nature, you change your biology in incredibly powerful ways and better control of health.
I’d been to my fair share of 'bikini beaches' before and only ever noticed all the firm and gorgeous bodies that in my eyes, I looked absolutely nothing like. In my 'then eyes' I was this fat and disgusting blob! I was not in my happy size. But looking at the picture of myself above.... I'm wondering how I could ever have thought of that. Here was the problem though, as I didn't know about brain health at the time, what I didn't know at the time was that my brain and it's neural networks were keeping me in this stressed place about my body. The brain can be tricky that way- it distorts information, keeping you believing stressful and health-eroding beliefs. This is such an important topic that I put together a whole online course on it.
But here at this clothing 'optional' resort (where no-one chose to wear clothing I might add) with everyone going naked, I suddenly noticed something in the midst of all this nudity that I'd somehow never registered before. It was like I finally managed to see the truth the media and my brain had been hiding from me.
Bodies came in all shapes and sizes and mostly looked nothing at all like models. The looked nothing like all the images that society presented to me. In common with millions, when I compared myself to these images I had a pretty negative body image, and that's because I was looking at myself through the distorted eyes of comparison. No wonder, no matter my number-size, I could never reach what felt like a happy size.
I was pretty amazed to find that the vast majority of bodies didn't look like models. It was such a relief to feel so normal, to suddenly find myself fitting in, to be happy nude. To feel so blissfully comfortable and free in my body was the most incredible feeling. I didn't know it at the time. But when I settled into happiness with myself, I flooded my cells with happy hormones, changed how my cells and immune system functioned and even the genes that were being expressed.
With the wisdom of hindsight, I can say I was doing what humans do naturally – picking up on information that fits in with our 'truths' and disregards any evidence to the contrary. No wonder my 'truth' that: I wasn't good enough had only grown stronger.
Surrounded by people all happy to be nude and going naked myself I no longer noticed people’s shapes and sizes but what started to jump out at me was the depth of their spirit and the size of their personalities. It’s not to say I didn’t notice bodies, it’s just that they became so irrelevant. These people were in their happy size and didn't care about what people had to say.
One particular woman really brought this miracle home to me. Here she was going naked when she was much more than double my size, and when she got up to walk to the beach she walked with such confidence that you could see it and feel it in every pore of her body. I would never have believed that possible to be a happy size at her size!
She was vibrant, she laughed, she was fun to be around, and most importantly, as I discovered, she was in love with herself and life. It was like her telling me, "be happy with yourself." The hormones that laughter produces are a wonderfully healing force that contribute to longevity. And being in love and like with yourself is like giving your cells and immune system reason to break out into a happy dance.
Whenever you increase stress you increase Cortisol- known as the death hormone- in the body. The body scavenges two precursor molecules to create Cortisol - progesterone and pregnenolone and gobbles them up. When you aren’t in a state of stress it’s these same two precursor molecules that create DHEA our main cell repair and cell communication hormone. So when you stress and stress about your weight, your body, or anything else, you’re exposing your cells to stressors that are accessing genes in health-eroding ways that would not usually be accessed and activated. As Dr. Dawson Church shares in this interview.
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